CATTLE POPULATION INCREASES

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 67, 26 August 1965, Page 10

CATTLE POPULATION INCREASES

Preliminary estimates by the Department of Statistics as at Junuary 31, 1965, indicate an increase of the number of dairy cows in milk from 2,010,868 to 2,068,000. The total number of dairy stock rose from 3,128,437 to an estimated 3,238,000, with heifer replacement stock increasing from 946,758 to 992,300.

The estimated number of beetf cattle rose from 3,567,768 to 3,650,000. Bulls and steers increased from 1,303,-

390 to 1,427,000, and replacement heifers one year and over from 575,819 to 589,900. Beef heifer calves declined from 471,617 to 436,900, and breeding cows from 1,141,241 to 1,119,000. There has been a decrease in the number of pigs from 771,450 to 734,100, with breeding sow numbers declining from 95,179 to 92,300. For sheep and hoggets shorn, the estimated number has increased from 46,508,396 to 47,851,000. The number of lambs tailed rose from 34,751,815 to 35,182,000. These estimates were prepared from returns recedved to the end of March, by which time 81 per cent of the farmers had sent their completed schedules back to the department. Following usual procedures complete figures will be published in the "Monthly Abstract of Statistics" as soon as they are available, while the publication, "Report on the Farrn Production Statistics of New Zealand 1964/65" giving the full statistics of the survey, will be published about the middle of 1966.